Heather Dabler Receives the Joseph Bartylak Pro Bono Award

Home » Heather Dabler Receives the Joseph Bartylak Pro Bono Award

Heather Dabler (right), partner at Wilson Dabler & Associates, LLC, was honored at the annual Land of Lincoln Legal Aid conference in November 2022 with the Joseph Bartylak Pro Bono Award. 

The award is named after Joe Bartylak, “a tireless advocate for increasing access to justice and the delivery of the highest caliber of legal services to low-income and vulnerable residents in central and southern Illinois.”

The award honors “the extraordinary commitment and dedication of civil legal services attorneys who have provided the highest caliber of compassionate legal representation and outstanding service to Illinois’ vulnerable and low-income population.”

Heather has served low-income and vulnerable Illinois residents by being in charge of the law update seminar for Land of Lincoln for the last several years. Her duties have included being on the committee that plans the seminar, and also presenting each year, with a fellow attorney, to summarize all the new laws from the Illinois Appellate Courts and the Illinois Supreme Court in the last year. “Every year the appellate court issues new opinions and interpretations,” Dabler explains. “And these need to be presented to attorneys so that they are kept informed to better serve their clients.”

Along with the committee, Heather’s work has included training attorneys with continuing education in family law, case law and new development updates to better serve low-income residents.

When speaking of her experiences in assisting residents who might otherwise not have had access to legal services, Heather states that “Every case is different. All of the attorneys at our firm lend our expertise to several pro bono cases each year. Every case is priceless. You can’t put a value on helping people improve their situation and their life.” 

Heather also served as President of the St. Clair County Bar Association from June 2021 to June 2022.

For more information on the Joseph Bartylak Memorial Legal Services Award please go to: https://www.isba.org/awards/bartylak